Parker School Becomes Blue Zones Project Approved

We are proud to announce that we have the very first Blue Zones Project Approved™ private school in the State of Hawaii! That honor goes to Parker School in Waimea, which is also the first school in North Hawaii to achieve this status.

Special thanks goes to a Parker School parent, Kelly Hoyle, who spearheaded the effort after attending the Blue Zones Project North Hawaii Kick-off in October 2015.

“With the support of Parker School's administration, I was inspired to get involved with Blue Zones Project by helping the school become Blue Zones Project Approved,” said Hoyle.

Hoyle is a member of Parker’s Parent Teacher School Ohana, and decided to volunteer her time to spearhead the school’s application. 

“While collecting data for the application, I realized Parker School is already ‘blue’ thanks to the numerous existing programs and events by Parker to encourage students to lead a healthy, happy, and active life. We are proud to be part of this progressive, healthy movement, and are excited to be the first private school in the State of Hawaii to be Blue Zones Project Approved,” said Hoyle.

Parker School earned Blue Zones Project Approved status after completing the Blue Zones Project School Pledge, which shows administrators how to optimize the school environment so that students are encouraged to eat better, move more, reduce sedentary screen time, increase healthy social interactions, and increase mindfulness.

“We are thrilled to join the Blue Zones Project movement and continue to model and encourage a healthy and active life with our 320 students in grades K-12," said Carl Sturges, Parker School Headmaster. "With this approval comes validation that we are on the right track with our existing programs and events such as our school garden, a Conscious Discipline program, field day, bike and pedestrian education, George Henegan fun run, numerous sports offerings and an extensive variety of after-school programs in the arts, athletics and academics.” 

During their jouney towards earning Blue Zones Project Approved status, Parker School added a monthly walking school bus, eliminated sugary drinks from the snack shop, and made other positive changes that nudge students in a healthy direction.

Parker School will be celebrating in-house at its Fall Bar-B-Que in September when all the students, families and staff return from summer break. 

Congratulations to Parker School for becoming Blue Zones Project Approved, and for helping students, faculty and staff, parents, and our community provide the best possible environment for students to learn and grow!

A Weekend Full of Blue Zones Fun in Honokaa and Waikoloa

Blue Zones Project participated in the Honokaa Western Week Parade on May 27, with 25 volunteers "Moving Naturally" through downtown Honokaa. Not only did they help spread the word about how to 'Live Longer, Better,' their charisma earned the group 1st Place for Best Walking Unit! 

The next day, we joined the Hamakua-Kohala Health's 50^th Celebration. Our volunteers and colleagues had our special Blue Zones Project blender bike handy for those who wanted to “Move Naturally” by using pedal-power to make tasty, healthy smoothies. We also held a gardening demo showing guests how to make an herb container garden - a great way to practice some of the Power 9 principles, namely “Down Shift,” “Move Naturally,” and “Plant Slant.”  

The following weekend, we were off to the Waikoloa Village Ohana FunFest, held on June 4.

From keiki activities, to healthy cooking demos, massages, plus smoothies and hummus samples from all the blender bike action - it was a Power 9-filled event showcasing all the different ways our communities can help make the healthy choice the easy choice for North Hawaii.